QZAP subscribes to the belief that what we do as archivists constitutes "Fair Use" under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; 2. the nature of the copyrighted work; 3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and 4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Because of the nature of zines, many of the materials are presented to the public as Anti-Copyright, Copy-Left, freely duplicatable, or more recently in the Creative Commons. Often zines are donated to us with the express purpose of digitization and reproduction. When we come across material that we believe fits into our archive we also perform due diligence as best we can in terms of contacting original authors and creators to ask permission to include their work in our archive. If you come across your work on the QZAP website and would like it to be removed, please contact us.